Healthcare giant McKesson Corp. reported markedly higher net earnings in its fiscal third quarter after incurring several significant one-time charges during the same period in its fiscal 2014.
Net earnings during the quarter ended Dec. 31 were $472 million—over seven times higher than the prior year—and adjusted earnings per diluted share were $2.89, up 95.3% from $1.48 a year ago. Last year, the company's gains were offset by charges related to inventory adjustments, restructuring and an ongoing transfer pricing dispute with the Canada Revenue Agency.
Revenue for the latest quarter was $47 billion, up 36.9% from $34.3 billion the year before. McKesson Chairman and CEO John Hammergren attributed the strong results to “solid execution” throughout the company's businesses.
The San Francisco-based pharmaceutical distributor and technology solutions company is expected to make an aggressive push into venture capital funding for health information technology in the next two to three years, investing in 15 to 25 companies, and potentially spending several hundred million dollars on the effort over the next five to eight years.
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